Bank of America Cuts Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) Price Target to $92.00

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) had its price objective cut by Bank of America from $95.00 to $92.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

PEG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays cut shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $73.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 target price on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.83.

Public Service Enterprise Group Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:PEG opened at $81.68 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $84.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.06. The company has a market capitalization of $40.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Public Service Enterprise Group has a 1-year low of $63.31 and a 1-year high of $95.22.

Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.03 billion. Public Service Enterprise Group had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 10.70%. Public Service Enterprise Group’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Public Service Enterprise Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a positive change from Public Service Enterprise Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Public Service Enterprise Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Public Service Enterprise Group

In other news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.10, for a total transaction of $114,511.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,536,332.10. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PEG. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 66,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,958,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new stake in Public Service Enterprise Group in the third quarter worth $225,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 47.4% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 3.1% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,111 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Public Service Enterprise Group by 22.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 466,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,349,000 after buying an additional 85,464 shares during the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Public Service Enterprise Group Company Profile

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates in electric and gas utility business in the United States. It operates through PSE&G and PSEG Power segments. The PSE&G segment transmits electricity; distributes electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and appliance services and repairs to customers through its service territory, as well as invests in solar generation projects, and energy efficiency and related programs.